Armillary sphere.



J. F LANNEAU.

ARMILLARY SPHERE APPLICATION FILED JAN. 26. 1914.

Patented June 27, 1916.

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JIRLanneau J. F. LANNEAU. ARMILLARY SPHERE. APPLlCATlON FILED JAN- 26 1914- Patented June 27, 1916.

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JOHN F. LANNEAU, OF WAKE FOREST, NORTH CAROLINA.

ARMILLARY SPHERE.

Application filed January 26, 1914.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, JOHN F. LANNEAU, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wake Forest, in the county of Wake and State of North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Armillary Spheres; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an armillary sphere, capable of an endless variety of adjustments to furnish illustrations of astronomical definitions, principles, facts and phenomena, and make very plain celestial relations not otherwise readily apprehended.

Another object of the invention is to provide an adjustable armillary sphere of protean capabilities and yet of extremely simple and practical construction.

With these and other objects in view as will become more apparent as the description proceeds, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a few parts of the armillary sphere assembled, Fig. 2 is a perspective view, showing additional parts of the armillary sphere in assembled position, Fig. 3 is a side elevation partly in section, showing the base," standard, and head piece of the standard, Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view, showing the method of connecting the band or ring representing the equinoctial colure and the solstitial colure at the South Pole, Fig. 5 is a viewtaken on a plane at right angles to Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a detail view of the headpiece, Fig. 6 is a detail view showing the way the two colures, at a point representing the North Pole, are connected, Fig. 7 is a detail view similar to Fig. 5, showing the South Pole caps separated, Fig. 8 is a detail view of a part to be hereinafter described, Fig. 9 is a detail perspective view of a disk-clamp, and Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a declination ring or circle.

Referring in detail to the drawings by Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 27, 1916.

Serial No. 814,432.

characters of reference, 1 designates the base of my armillary sphere, said base being formed by a plate of any desired shape bent downwardly, as indicated at 2, and then inwardly, as indicated by the numeral 3. The portion 3 carries a clamp screw 4 to secure the base to a table top or other support 5. A standard 6 is removably connected to the base by a threaded stud 7 seating in a soglket formed in the lower end of the standar A headpiece, designated as an entirety by the numeral .7 and including a stem 8 is rotatably connected to the upper end of the standard 6 by having said stem fit within a bore 9. A set screw 10 is provided to lock the stem 8 against rotational movement. A pair of spaced parallel ears 11 are formed integrally on the upper end of the stem 8 and receive between them a third car 12 formed integrally with a socket 13 in the form of a sleeve. The longitudinal bore 14 extending through the sleeve is diametrically enlarged for-a portion of its length adjacent one end to form a chamber 15. Set screws 16 and 17 thread through the socket into the openings 14 and 15 respectively. The car 12 is pivotally connected between the ears 11 by a pivot rod 18 which extends through alined openings formed in the ears and which is provided upon one end with a head 19 held against rotation by a pin 20. The pivot rod 18 is threaded and fits within the body 21 of a clamp having a handle When the clamp is tightened,

the ears 11 bind upon the ear 12 and hold the latter firmly in any desired position.

A hollow shaft 23 fits within the chamber 15 of the socket 13 and is provided with an enlarged knurled portion 24 adjacent its outer end so that the shaft may be easily rotated. A disk or cap 25, representing the South Pole, is rigidly connected to the outer end of the enlarged portion 24. of the shaft 23 and carries a ring or band 26, representing the equinoctial colure. colure, carries a plurality 'of' threaded L- shaped clamps or fasteners 27 and a pair of diametrically opposed pivot screws 28. The pivot screw on the right is concealed under the sun disk 51 to be hereinafter described. At a point opposite the cap 25, the equinoctial colure 26 is provided with a cap or disk 29, representing the North Pole. A band or ring 30, representing the solstitial This colure is detachably connected to the colure 26 and extends at right angles to the plane thereof. The solstitial ring carries a South Pole cap or disk 31 formed (see Fig. 5) with an edge opening notch 32 and a central opening 33. This disk is opposed to the disk 25 and the pin 34, carried by the disk 25, is received in the notch 32, whereby the two disks and the two colures, are held against rotation relative to each other. By reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 5 it will be seen that the shaft 23 has a reduced end 36 which projects beyond the disk 25 and which is externally screw-threaded. The end 36 passes through the central opening 33 of the disk 31 and mounted upon. the end is a nut 37 which holds the disk 31 against the disk At a point diametrically opposed to the disk 31, the solstitial ring is provided with a disk or cap 38 having an outwardly projecting stem 39 which extends through a central opening formed in the cap or disk 29, and which is externally threaded to receive a nut 40.

Referring to Fig. 1, which represents the armillary sphere assembled to show the relative positions at the March equinox of the earth, sun, and standard'c'elestial points and circles, a1 is a ring representing the ecliptic, and 42 is a ring representing the equator, said rings being secured in position by the screws 28 and fasteners 27 The axis rod 12 extends through the shaft 23, has a knurled head 13 (see Fig. 3) at its lower terminal, and is threaded at its upper end into a ball 44:, representing the sun at the center of the skeleton sphere. A. sleeve 45 is interposed between the ball 44; and the end 36 of the shaft 23 and prevents the rod 42 slipping downwardly. A rod 16 entends through a diametrical bore in the ball 44 and through a disk a7, representing the south ecliptic pole.

An arm &8, lying in the ecliptic plane, is formed integrally on the upper end of the rod 46, has acurved portion 4C9 which engages the ball 44;. A small ball 50 is secured to the free end of the arm 48 to represent'the earth. By turning the rod &6, by knob at its low end, the earth-ball 50 is carried around the sun-ball 44. in the'ecliptic plane.

51 is a disk which may be secured in different positions on 'the ring etl to indicate the apparent positions of the sun at certain times. This disk, as shown in Fig. 9 is provided with a threaded stem 52 on which iscarried a smaller disk 53 and the ring to which the disk 51 is secured is clamped between these two r isks to hold disk 51 in to represent an observer. The plate 55 may be tilted to different positions with respect tothe axis rods 42 and and may be lockedin any desired position by a lock rod 60 (see Fig. 8) which threads into the ball M at right angles to the axis of the sphere and has a head '60 which engages the aeriphery'of the plate 55. When the rod 60 is loosened, the plate may be turned abo'utthe center line of said rod as an axis, and when the rod is tightened, the head 60 will engage the edge of the plate and cause the plate to shift laterally and bind against the ball 44.

61 and 62 are rings or bands representing hour circles and each is formed in semi-circular sections, the ends of which are clamped between the pole caps. The circle 61 passes directly over the observer 59 and the highest point is marked by a zenith diskclamp 63 similar in construction to the sun diskclamp 51. The lowest point on the 'circle 61 is marked by a nadir disk'clamp 6'4.

65 amass are bandsor rings representing a vertical circle and an ecliptic meridian respectively. WVhere the rings or bands 62, 65 and 66c'ross, they are fastened by a star clamp 67 constructed similar to the disk clamps.

In Fig. 10 'I have illustrated a ring/of round "wire, representing a declination 1 circle, and I employ a number of thesecircles of different diameters which may 'be's'ecu'red to the'colures by L-clam'p's, such as shown 'at 27 in Fig. 1,as will be readily understood.

From the 'foregoing, it will be seen that I have provided an armillary sphere, the parts of which are capable of a multitude'of cornbinations, and said parts being detachable from one another to permit ofthe device being packed in a very compact form.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodimentof my invention, the cosmoid, it will be understood that minor changes in-constru'ction, combination and arrangement of parts maybe made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed. H

Having thus described my invention, I claim:- I

1. In a device of the character'descrih'ed, a'sh'aft formed with aiongitudinal bore'extending entirely therethrough, a skeleton framearranged on one end of said shaft, an axis rod extending through the shaftv and terminating at one end near the center of the frame, a ball secured to the last mentioned end of said rod, means for holding the ball at the center of the frame, the ball being formed with a diametrical bore, a rod extending through said bore, an arm formed on said rod to swing around the ball, and a second ball secured to the free end of said arm.

2. In a device of the character described, a colure band, a pair of disks secured to said band at opposite points, a second colure band arranged to enter the said first mentioned band in a plane at right angles thereto, a second pair of disks formed on said second mentioned band at opposite points, means for connecting the disks of one band to the disks of the other band, a sphere, a ball, and means to support the sphere and ball within the colure bands.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with the band 26 having the a skeleton frame including a pair of colure bands extending at right angles to each other, opposed pole caps or disks carried by each band, means for securing the disks of one band to the disks of the other band, a sphere carried within the frame, means to adjustably support the sphere within the frame, and a ball arranged to one side of said sphere Within the frame.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of tWo witnesses.

JOHN F. LANNEAU. Witnesses:

E. L. I/VARD, W. S. VABB.

copies of this patent may be obtained (or five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner 0! Patents Washington, D. 0. 

